1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer or the like. In particular, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having foot members for supporting the apparatus on a floor surface.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there are various types of image forming apparatuses from a small desktop type to a large floorstanding type. Some of these types of image forming apparatuses are equipped with four foot members such as casters at four corners or their vicinities on the bottom face of the apparatus. These casters enable the apparatus to be moved easily while they enable the apparatus to be fixed on a floor surface by locking themselves when the apparatus is installed. In addition, some of the apparatuses have a structure for adjusting its level by the casters that are screwed to the apparatus so that screw height of each caster can be adjusted, thereby all the casters can contact with the floor surface. Thus, the image forming apparatus can be prevented from being unstable and still can move easily.
However, providing four casters may cause an increase of cost. Therefore, an apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2006-126605, for example, has fixed foot members and two casters attached to the bottom face of a cabinet of the apparatus. The casters are attached to the bottom face of the cabinet at the outside of the fixed foot members on one end side of the bottom face, and a height of the caster is lower than that of the foot member. According to this arrangement, the apparatus can be moved by lifting and tilting the same so that only the casters contact with the floor surface while the apparatus can be supported and fixed to the floor surface only by the fixed foot members so that the casters do not contact with the floor surface when the apparatus is installed.
However, in the apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document, the casters for moving the apparatus are disposed on the bottom face of the apparatus cabinet. Therefore, there is a gap between the bottom face of the apparatus cabinet and the floor surface generated when the apparatus is installed. If an original sheet or a sheet of paper on which images are formed is dropped on the floor surface when the image forming apparatus is used for printing or copying, the original sheet or the sheet of paper may slip into the gap. The casters of the installed apparatus are locked, and the apparatus having the fixed foot members and the casters is supported by the fixed foot members on the floor surface. Therefore, it is difficult to move the apparatus, and the original sheet or the sheet of paper cannot be taken out from the gap easily. Furthermore, if a post-processing device is attached to the image forming apparatus, it is more difficult to move the apparatus, so the original sheet or the sheet of paper cannot be taken out from the gap easily. In addition, if the apparatus is installed so that its rear side faces a wall of a room such as an office, or if it is installed so that both the rear side and one lateral side face walls in some cases, dust may be deposited in the gap and the dust may stick to the original sheet or the sheet of paper to make it dirty even if it can be taken out from the gap.